Update:
on March 29, 2023 at 11:02 a.m. with the vote details, at 12:43 p.m. with comment from Sens. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas and José Menéndez, D-San Antonio and at 3:20 p.m. with the final vote.
Texas Senate passes bill to restrict participation of transgender college athletes
Senate Bill 15 would require college athletes to compete according to their sex at birth. After passing Tuesday, it needs the Senate’s approval once more before passing to the House for more debate.
AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would restrict participation in collegiate sports by transgender athletes.
Senate Bill 15 by Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, would require collegiate athletes to compete according to their sex at birth. It would also prohibit retaliation against anyone who reports a violation, and allow female athletes to compete against men if a women’s competition in their sport “is not offered or available.”
The bill passed by a vote of 19-10 with little debate. On Tuesday, it was given initial passage by a vote of 19-8 after less than 15 minutes of debate. Three senators did not vote in the first abllot: Democrat Sens. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of Mcallen, Nathan Johnson of Dallas and José Menéndez of San Antonio, the Senate Journal noted.
The bill will now proceed to the Texas House, where it will first be referred for more debate in committee.
The effort to restrict participation by transgender college athletes enjoys widespread support in the Texas Legislature. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who leads the Senate, prioritized the legislation and Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to sign a bill of this kind into law.
A similar bill in the House already has the support of a majority of representatives.
In introducing his bill, Middleton said it was “all about fairness.”
“Unfortunately, that opportunity to fairly compete in college sports for biological women is in jeopardy,” Middleton said. “[This bill] helps ensure that those hard earned victories, athletic records, the spots on teams, scholarships, the name image likeness sponsorships that we passed in this chamber and the House last session, are protected in our Texas public institutions of higher education.”
The bill — and dozens of similar pieces of legislation like it across the country — was filed in response to transgender athletes like Lia Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer who moved to the women’s team as a senior in college.
The NCAA is phasing in a new policy, to be fully implemented next school year, that defers to each sport’s national or international governing body to determine transgender athlete participation. If no policy exists, existing International Olympics Committee standards apply, and the NCAA requires trans athletes to document and pass certain hormone benchmarks in order to compete according to their gender identity.
Some organizations have already decided to ban transgender athletes. This week, the track and field-affiliated World Athletic Council said it would not allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports if they went through male puberty.
Middleton mentioned this decision, and a Texas law passed in 2021 restricting trans high school athletes, to support his bill: “Now, it’s time to take the second step and finish the equation here.”
Johnson was the sole dissenting voice on the Senate floor Tuesday.
“Shouldn’t we postpone this vote and see what happens at the NCAA level?” he asked, referring to the phased-in policy. “I would rather cast a vote in two years when we’ve seen what the NCAA does.”
Middleton declined to entertain the idea, stating that “the time for fairness is right now.”
Speaking to The News on Wednesday, Johnson said he did not vote on the bill because he does not think it’s appropriate at this time. He said he is sympathetic to people whose life experience differs but also said the state should defer to sports governing bodies to determine transgender athlete participation, including those that enact restrictions.
“This is not the time to take a vote,” he said. “We should not legislative what we don’t understand.”
Menéndez told The News “in a way, it was a protest vote.”
“I’m tired of the way they’re using the chamber it appears to be to score political points,” he said. “I just get to the point where I’m like, ‘Y’all are wasting our time.’”
This legislation is one of several bills lawmakers are advancing this year that would restrict lesbian, gay, bisexual and especially transgender rights. Committees in the Texas Senate have approved other Patrick priorities to restrict or criminalize drag shows and ban certain medical treatments for transgender minors.
The Texas House also debated a similar medical treatments ban bill on Monday — prompting hundreds of LGBTQ advocates to flood the Capitol in protest — but has not voted on the measure.
